'Where Have I Heard It?' Assessing the Recall of Traffic Safety Campaigns in the Dominican Republic

Although traffic crashes are the eighth leading cause of death in the world, and are linked to vehicle and infrastructure-related factors, crash-related fatality rates are much higher in low-income countries. Particularly, the Dominican Republic is the country with the highest accident rate in the whole American continent. Therefore, in the past few years, public agencies have been developing different measures aimed at reducing traffic fatalities, including road safety campaigns. The aim of the present study was to assess the recalling of such campaigns among the Dominican population, which may serve as an additional indicator to evaluate their effectiveness in this and other countries of the region presenting similar traffic safety issues. For this cross-sectional study, a nationwide sample composed of 1260 people (50% males and 50% females) with a mean age of 39.3 years was used. The data were collected through personal interviews. Overall, the recall of traffic safety campaigns was found to be very low (9%); male drivers who were employed, possessed a driver’s license and habitually drove were the ones who could commonly remember these campaigns. The results of this study suggest that further evaluation and follow-up could help to maximize the impact of future traffic campaigns and advertisements in the Dominican Republic, as well as in other emerging countries of the region with similar characteristics. Further, key segments of the population such as the female, young, less formally educated and non-driving populations should be also targeted for further actions in this regard.